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Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Here's some more owl towels, they have nothing to do with my Tuesday's Tip... but what is a post without pictures???

Embroidery tips:

1. Use the right stabilizers. If you are, you should never have to use more than one sheet of it. My general rule is: Cut away for knits and tear away for wovens and for anything that I want to be wrinkle free- sticky back stabilizer... although I use this sparingly, because it's VERY expensive. I took some from my Mom's. :)

2. Use generously, spray adhesive on appliques.

3. Top projects with any pile with WSS (water soluble stabilizer) I use laundry bags- check other Tuesday's tips for this.

4. Change your needles. I typically use only embroidery needles on my machine, occasionally I will use a sharp.

5. Use the type of bobbin thread that you are supposed to for your machine.Before I started buying the Brother bobbin thread fit for my machine, I had problems with tension issues and thread showing thru all the time! Now that I use the correct bobbin thread, I NEVER... and I mean NEVER have to adjust my tension.

6. Keep your machine serviced. It's worth the $60-100 bucks to keep it in good working condition. I take mine about every 6-8 months. But...I use mine a LOT, too.

7. When it's time to change colors- snip your thread at the top and pull the extra thru the bottom. Don't pull the thread back up thru the machine. This can cause problems in there. Trust me.It's worth the few inches of thread you're losing to keep your machine happy.

I buy all of my stabilizers and bobbin thread from AllBrands.com. They have fair prices, coupons codes every month and they host my favorite sewing forum. I give them my business.

Close up of my owl towels.

I did my knit fabrics yesterday... I still need to do the fleece and the silky. But I'm going to sew today. Hooray!